Horse Training Tips – Cutting Mistakes

Cutting Horse Rider Cheat Sheet

Have you ever dreamed
what it would be like to be a top-notch cutting horse rider? Can you
imagine the feeling of riding a good horse when its working a tough cow?

I’ll tell you, it’s an experience that is absolutely thrilling!

Once you ride a cutting horse and experience those big stops and hard
turns, every other horse activity seems kind of… boring.

I remember well the first time I ever rode a trained cutting horse. It
had such an impact on me that I’ll never forget it.

At the time, I was working for a huge cattle ranch as their colt
starter. I was just beginning my career training horses and I really didn’t know much. But,
I had a burning desire to succeed at my chosen profession and worked
hard to learn all I could.

This cattle ranch was always short on cowboys and one day the cow boss
asked me if I would work with the cow crew that day because they needed extra
hands to help with gathering and sorting some cows and calves.

I said sure, I’d be happy to go along but I wouldn’t be much help riding
one of my 2 year olds. He pointed to a palomino mare out in the pasture and told
me to use her for the days work. He also warned me she hadn’t been
ridden for over a year.

I caught the mare, saddled her up and turned her loose in a pen to see
what she’d do. She crow-hopped a bit but that was it. So, I climbed
aboard and away we went.

The pasture that we were to gather, contained around 200 head of mother
cows plus their calves. The plan was to drive the whole herd into a corner,
then separate the “dry” cows (these are cows that didn’t produce a calf) from the
“mother” cows.

Separating or “cutting out” the dry cows from the herd this way was a
tricky business. One wrong move, one mistake, could spook the herd and
send them scattering in all directions. Thus wasting all the time
and effort it took to get them rounded up.

Because of the skill involved, it was usually the “cow boss” (foreman)
who did the cutting.

On this ranch, the cow boss was a man named Walter Matlock. What a good
hand he was! To this day, Walter is still one of the best all-around hands
I’ve ever seen. His horses would rope, head or heel, cut cattle, stop on
a dime and spin like a top.

The man knew horses and he knew cattle.

I watched Walter quietly enter the herd and ease out a dry cow. When the
cow would turn to get back to the herd, Walter’s horse would counter
each move with a “bigger”, “faster” move and contain the cow in a
small area. It was mesmerizing to watch.

After watching Walter cut cattle for 20 minutes or so, he asked me if
I’d like to give it a try. You betcha, I was dying to! Trouble was, I’d
never done it before and didn’t have a clue.

My focus had always been on learning how to train a reining horse. I didn’t have much experience
working cattle.

He told me, “just ease in and drive out that “brindle” colored cow. Once
you have her clear of the herd, drop your rein hand, sit relaxed and
keep both your eyes focused on the cow. Trust the mare and let her work
on her own”.

Well, I did as he instructed and when I dropped my hand to signal the
mare that she was on her own, man, did she ever go to work.

This little palomino mare dropped straight down on her belly, crouched
and ready to spring. Each time the cow moved, the mare would leap
through he air and then drag her butt in the dirt, blocking the cow’s
every attempt to rejoin the herd.

By far, it was the most fun I’d ever had on the back of a horse.
Actually, the word “fun” doesn’t accurately describe it. “Exhilarating”
would be more like it. I was so excited by the experience, I could
hardly sleep that night.

I learned later, that palomino mare had competed at the NCHA futurity a year
earlier. She had done well, made the finals and placed 5th. No wonder
she was so good.

Over the years, I’ve met a lot of folks who have experienced riding a
cutting horse and gotten “hooked” the same way I did. Unfortunately,
some of them haven’t had the benefit of receiving good instruction. They
encounter problems when riding their cutter.

In reality, learning to ride a cutting horse isn’t that difficult. If
you can master a few basic principals and practice those principals until they become “muscle
memory”, you will have success pretty darn quick.

Below I’ve listed some of the most common mistakes new cutters make.

Biggest Mistakes Made by Cutting Horse Riders

#1. Trying to Learn to Cut on a Green Cutting Horse.

If you are a person who
loves frustration, then trying to learn to cut on a green horse is definitely the way to go. =o)

Seriously
though, cutting is one of the most challenging show events you can do on
horseback. During a cutting run, you have three separate “beings” to
deal with… yourself, the horse and the cow.

When
you’re new and just learning, its hard enough just to concentrate on
YOURSELF. Let alone a cow and a horse that doesn’t know his job.

Its far better
to learn on a fully trained horse that really knows his job. You
will learn much faster if you do.

If you
just want to have some fun by working your horse on cattle, by all
means, have at it. You’ll have a blast and gain some valuable
experience. However, if you are serious about competing, then go get
help from a top cutting horse trainer.

#2. Rider’s Body is Tense & Stiff Instead of Loose & Relaxed.

Its imperative that
you ride with your body totally relaxed.

Trying to ride a cutting
horse while your body is stiff is the most common fault you will see in
the cutting arena. It’s also one of the worst faults a cutting horse
rider can have.

Why?
Because body stiffness causes a MULTITUDE of problems.

Here are just a few…

A. Causes the horse to miss the stop.
B. Causes the horse to round the turns and leak up the arena.

C. Causes the rider to fall forward and lose his balance.
D. Causes the horse to lose his form and style on a cow.

#3. Failure to Make a Clean Cut in the Middle of the Pen.

In other words, cutting on the run. If the run doesn’t start right, it usually doesn’t finish very well either. Ideally, you want to cut a cow in the center of the arena with your horse “faced up” and “even” with the cow.

This means
before you drop your hand, the horse needs to be looking directly
at the cow you want to cut and be positioned on the cow
correctly. Not placed out-of-wack, too far to the right or left
of the cow.

Many beginning cutters will experience “tunnel vision” and get focused on running cows. What they need to do is slow down and focus on the cows that want to stop and stay for their horse.

Watch the video at the bottom of this page to see how to do it.

#4. Rider Takes His Eyes Off the Cow & Looks at the Horse’s Head.

This is the quickest way I
know of to get thrown off the back of a cutting horse. Many beginning
cutters are unable to “feel” the position of the horse’s body so they
take their eyes off the cow and look at the horse to check what he is
doing.

This is a
huge mistake. See, the rider’s “timing” and “balance” comes from
watching the cow. Whenever a rider takes his eyes off the cow and
looks at the horse’s head, he is no longer aware of when the cow is
going to stop and turn.

I’ve seen
plenty of riders hit the ground because they took their eyes off the cow
just as it stopped and went the other way. The horse went the other way
too but the rider didn’t. Usually, the rider isn’t even aware of
this problem.

#5. The Rider Not Correctly Sitting the Stop.

This one mistake is
responsible for cutting horses “missing” their cattle than any other
thing I can think of.

When the
cow is running across the pen and then stops and goes the other way,
it’s imperative that the rider sits down in the saddle to help
his horse. This “sitting down” does two very important things.

1.
It tells the horse that its time to stick his butt in the dirt and apply
the brakes.

2.
It also allows the rider to maintain balance during the hard stop and
turn.

The “sit
down” consists of the rider rounding his lower back, tucking his pelvis
under him and trying to sit on his jean pockets. It’s also important for
the rider’s shoulders to be positioned directly over his hips… Not
leaning too far forward or too far back.

Unfortunately, many riders “hollow out” and arch their back. Making
their spine rigid. The result is usually the horse not stopping in time
with the cow and the rider losing his balance by falling forward.

#6. The Rider Leaning His Upper Body Towards the Cow.

Okay, this is the rider
mistake I see the most at the shows. And it’s a mistake that MUST
be corrected if the horse is ever going to work correctly.

See, a
horse will “follow” the rider’s body weight. If the rider is leaning
towards the cow, the horse will travel towards the cow. This
causes the horse to round his turns instead of sitting down and coming
over his hocks.

This
leaning will also cause the horse to “leak” up the pen and lose his
proper position. Leaning can also cause a horse to get out of sync with
the cow. All in all, this “leaning rider syndrome” causes some pretty
ugly stuff to happen.

What
causes the rider to lean in the first place? It can be a variety of
things. Maybe the rider doesn’t trust that his horse is going to turn
with the cow and he is leaning in an attempt to get the horse to turn.

The
leaning can also be caused by just plain old nervousness or fear. Many
riders have “stage fright” when they first learn to cut.

The

cure is to condition your “muscle
memory” to keep your body relaxed,looseand centered while you ride.

#7. The Rider’s Lack of Essential Horsemanship Skills.

A lot of people think that because
cutting horses work on their own, all the rider has to do is just cut a
cow and hang on. Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Yes it’s
true, cutting horses do work on their own but the rider has a HUGE
influence on how well that horse works. A cutting horse rider needs to
be more of a “jockey” than a mere “passenger”.

That means
you will have a lot more success cutting if you are a knowledgeable
horseman. The rider who knows how to stop and turn a horse over his
hocks and position a horse’s body with leg cues, will have a tremendous
advantage over the rider who doesn’t.

If you are
interested in getting that knowledge, I suggest you invest in my “Performance
Training Package“. This package covers everything you need to teach
a horse to do good stops, turns, lead changes, collection and much more.

The
package also includes instruction on how to use your hands,
legs and body position to achieve the absolute best results.

If like
me, you too have a passion for cutting horses, go to myCutters Only page. Here
you will find information for training, riding and showing the cutting
horse.

Comments

We just got a two yr old smooth as a cat, mr sun o lena. He’s is smart and qiuck but scared of a cow. we are on a ranch with 1000 cows what is the best and safest way to introduce him to conquer his fear. I feel he will be some things else once he gets alittle older and confident. He’s has never been around them.

My husband knows horses and animals he ‘s
no beginner. He has people hammer him to buy him I say no he’s a moving machine. He can do it but time is the issue with him. If there’s a good way to do it I’m trying to find it. Thanks